Chapter 22: Epilogue - Turn it Off

Two days later

Aladdin realized he'd overslept the moment he opened his eyes and knew that it wasn't morning, but rather evening. Instead of greeting the dawn, he was greeting the dusky skies that lay beyond the bedroom window. He sat up quickly, but a familiar voice called out to him.

"Hey, don't overdo it. No one said that you had to be anywhere today. Father included."

"Jasmine, sorry, I didn't realize it was so late. You've probably been awake this whole time."

Jasmine took a seat beside Aladdin on the bed, one of her hands gripping one of his with a soft squeeze. She had been fully dressed in her usual royal attire for the day while Aladdin was still in his sleeping clothes. She used her hand to smooth hair away from his brow. "That might be true, but remember that I slept most of the day yesterday after we returned from Karais. Today's the first day that you've had any rest since then."

Aladdin groaned. "Yeah, guess so. But I wanted to make sure everyone in Agrabah that was missing was accounted for."

"Genie was able to do the bulk of that on his own, though. Carpet, too. You didn't have to."

"Yeah, but I really wanted to, you know?"

Jasmine shook her head. "What am I going to do with someone as stubborn as you are?"

"I'd like to think it makes me charming?" The only response Aladdin got to that was a light tap on the bridge of his nose from Jasmine's finger. The two of them laughed, but the moment was shortlived as they heard a scream from the outside.

"Was that Iago?" Jasmine asked, breaking the sudden silence between them.

"Sounded like it. Didn't sound all that great either." Aladdin got up and went to the door of their bedroom before Jasmine could stop him.

But when the two of them arrived in the Palace hallway, Iago came flying past them, almost quicker than a blink. They realized that the bird was racing away from several magic sparks that were on the edge of his tail.

"Turn it off! Turn it off!" Iago cried as he disappeared down and over through another hallway.

"What in the world...?" Aladdin said.

"Don't worry! Everything's perfectly under control!" Genie said, approaching them with Abu perched on his shoulder. "Sorry Al, didn't mean to wake you up." Carpet went flying after Iago without looking back, as quick as he could considering he had two pails of water he was trying to balance without spilling them over.

"Do you guys want to tell us what happened just now?" Jasmine asked, more confused than upset.

Abu sighed. "Oh boy."

"The monkey has my sentiments exactly," Genie said with a wince. "Iago wanted the actual experience of wielding magical power after the botched attempt of what his magic was before and after Karais. I couldn't argue with him on it. He didn't think it was fair that Abu or Siva had their abilities for longer. This is not taking into consideration that Al had no magical power to speak of that whole time."

"So what happened?" Aladdin asked, folding his arms across his chest.

"Long story short, I gave him a little bit of pyro magic to work with. Not enough to do any major damage, but just to experience it like a hat trick. Except Iago overdid it and now he's got a flame ball chasing him. I think Rug Man's got him covered in case his tail catches fire."

Both Aladdin and Jasmine winced.

"I thought Iago said he was done with wielding magic power after our experience in Karais?" Jasmine said.

Aladdin shook his head, smiling. "Guess he didn't learn his lesson the first time like the rest of us did. Or what we kinda already knew. Nothing that you wish for will necessarily turn out the way you expect. Sometimes that can be a bad thing. But for others, it makes you appreciate what you have rather than what you don't."

Genie nodded. "Couldn't have put it better myself, kid."

Fin.